To Tutor, or Not to Tutor?
by MilleniumGirl
Summary: Complete! Yugi and some others tutoring Tristan at school- a very funny one! Thx to Nicole and my other reviewers 4 their request as a character!PlzR&R!
1. The Madness Begins

MilleniumGirl: Hey people! I'm writing another fanfic, and I'm not sure why because no one reviews my other stories…. *cough* ^^Anyway! I was reeeeeaaaaallllyyyy bored when I thought up the topic for this one, just so you know.   
  
Bakura: *eager face*   
  
MG: Um… oh yeah… *mumbling* Just hurry up and do the disclaimer already.   
  
Bakura: MilleniumGirl does not own Yu-gi-oh and is not claiming to own Yu-gi-oh! You know, I just figured out where they came up with the word 'disclaimer'. See, 'dis' is obviously used to mean apart, away from, deprived of, expelled from, caused to be the opposite of, failed, ceased, or refused to, do the opposite of…  
  
MG: -_-U *thinking* Maybe if I let him talk, he'll be all talked out…  
  
Bakura: …and 'claimer' is referring to 'claim', which means to call for, require, deserve, to demand or ask for as rightfully belonging or due to one, a statement as a fact of something that may be called into question… *continues on*   
  
MG: 0_o; SOMEBODY MAKE HIM STOOOOOP!!!!!   
  
Yami Bakura: *comes over and starts dragging his hikari away*   
  
MG: Thank you thank you thank you! I owe you one!   
  
Yakura: I expect a check made out to me for $200 on my desk by tomorrow. *flings Ryou over his shoulder and walks away*  
  
MG:…  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It's another day at Domino High School. Another day means another stack of homework. For some, it's another day of social time. For others, it's a living hell. And then there's students who wake each morning to greet the new day and the fun educating education they'll be getting from their underpaid coffee-deprived teachers.   
  
An example of this type of student is Yugi Moto. Yugi is your average A+ student, with the exception that his head comes to most people's waists. He has a fun little house with a game shop in the basement, but it's hardly a distraction from his schoolwork! In fact, the only thing that could distract such a serious tyro like Yugi is an occasional reverie— and a stupid friend.  
  
I'll explain. Yugi, being on top of the ball, had some free time, and went to ask the teacher if he could clap erasers.   
  
" Mrs. Grocher? I finished my homework… so you think I could clap some era…"  
  
he began.  
  
" Good lord, Yugi, you've already clapped them a couple times today… why don't you go read or something?" Mrs. Grocher responded, adjusting her glasses.  
  
" Um, I don't have a book…" he said, looking around.   
  
" Hikari, you can borrow mine! I finished it," Yami, Yugi's… well… yami, said, holding up a book.  
  
Yugi looked relieved. " Thanks," he said, taking the book, but when he opened it, he let out a little sigh.  
  
Yami slapped his forehead. " Ack, sorry, I forgot it was in Egyptian…" He took it back and opened it to a page. Yugi couldn't tell whether it was right side up or not.   
  
Yugi started to head back to his seat, but Mrs. Grocher called him back up to her desk again.  
  
"Yugi, I was wondering… do you think you could do me a favor?" she said, stacking some papers in a corner on her desk.  
  
Yugi quivered with excitement. " Yeah!"   
  
" Well, there's this student… his grades are absolutely dismal. I was wondering if you and him could sit down together, you know, and you could be like a tutor," she said.  
  
Yugi looked interested. He nodded for her to keep going.  
  
" The student is… MR. WHEELER, PLEASE STOP POKING HOLES IN THE LINOLEUM… I'm sorry, where was I? Oh yes, the student I want you to tutor is Tristan Taylor."  
  
Yugi felt a tug somewhere down in the pit of his stomach. His friend? How could he possibly humiliate his friend by tutoring him? He had never really thought Tristan was in need of it, either… Yugi just hoped for Tristan's sake that no one would find out about this.   
  
Yugi should have hoped a little more fervently.   
  
Seto Kaiba, the successful, rich, popular, stylish, intelligent Lord of all things Duel Monsters, had happened to overhear. He had a cocky little smile on his face as Yugi walked by his desk.   
  
" Yugi," he said in a low voice. "I heard about you tutoring your friend, that simian with the ephemeral brain…"   
  
" Listen, Kaiba, I don't know what efermeral or whatever you just said means, but you shouldn't say that about Tristan!" Yugi said defensively.   
  
" Say what about Tristan?" Ryou Bakura said, leaning into the conversation.  
  
" Um, nothing…" Yugi began, but Kaiba cut him off.  
  
" I'll save you the epexegesis- Tristan is being tutored by Yugi," he said smugly.   
  
" No way!" Bakura said, his eyes widening. " Well, maybe Yugi can bring out some of Tristan's latent knowledge… he has been getting execrable grades lately…"   
  
Bakura's yami popped up over his shoulder. " Does execrable mean bad…?"   
  
Bakura ignored him and continued. " Well, at least Tristan's your persona grata, Yugi," he said with a laugh.   
  
Everyone but Kaiba looked confused.   
  
Now Duke Devlin had joined the swelling crowd of gossips. " Does he know?"  
  
" Well, I hope so… listen, I didn't want to make a big deal out of this…" Yugi said quietly.   
  
" TRISTAN!" Yakura called across the room.   
  
" Oh Lord no, Yami…" Bakura said, slapping a hand over Yakura's mouth. " Don't ask him…"   
  
" What, Ryou, I just wanted to ask him if he wanted a perdition," Yakura joked, sitting on his chair backwards. Tristan walked over to the group, looking confused.   
  
" Now you've done it," Yugi said through gritted teeth.   
  
To Yugi's luck, Mrs. Grocher interrupted before Tristan could ask what was going on.   
  
" Children, children, please settle down! Back in your seats right now, everyone," she said, waving her arms around frantically. Class continued as usual— some students wishing they were out of this run-of-the-mill high school, others daydreaming; students wishing they were watching TV, students wishing they were on TV, students wishing they were with their families, students wishing they were dueling, and students wishing they were ruling the world.   
  
And one student wishing he didn't have to tutor his friend…   
  
Yugi sighed as he walked over to Tristan at the end of the day. This was either going to go really well, or really bad. Or execrable.   
  
Yugi shook his head furiously. He's starting to think like Bakura.   
  
Tristan was sitting at his desk, beating a couple of pens like drums against the back of Joey's chair. Whenever Joey would whip around, Tristan would hide the pens under his desk and put an innocent look on his face. Yugi watched them for a bit, then approached Tristan.   
  
" Um… Tristan? Can I talk to you about something? Over here?" Yugi said quietly, pointing to an empty corner of the room. Most of the students had begun to file out now that school was over, so Joey didn't hang around much longer. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and said goodbye, glaring at Kaiba before he exited the room. Yugi finally had noticed Kaiba, who was drifting around the edges of the classroom, and had an air about him that made Yugi a little angry. Yugi told Tristan to wait a sec, and stormed over to Kaiba with his hands balled up in fists.  
  
" Kaiba, I would really appreciate it if you could go home…" Yugi said with forced patience. Kaiba turned his head slightly to acknowledge Yugi's presence.   
  
" Oh, Yugi…" he said casually, turning back around. " It's you. Why are you still here? Oh, yes, that's right…" He lowered his voice to a purr that made the hair on the back of Yugi's neck stand up straight. " You have to tutor the monkey… hope it all goes over well…"   
  
" Kaiba!" Yugi yelled, trying to stare Kaiba down, but he failed for many different reasons, one being that he was almost two feet shorter. " I told you not to talk about my friends like that!"  
  
" Friends?" Kaiba scoffed. He turned to glare at Tristan, who was poking holes in the back of Joey's chair with his pencil. The pencil broke, and Tristan looked confused. "You mean he's an actual person, then?"   
  
Yugi was so furious he couldn't even retaliate. " Yes, they are normal human beings, you mean jerk! Just like me, and you, and Mrs. Grocher, and Mokuba…"   
  
Yugi had touched a nerve with that last name. Kaiba straightened up and put on a very fierce hawk-like look, staring down his nose at Yugi.   
  
" I'd better be going— I would love to stay and watch you attempt to teach that oaf, but I need to go pick up Mokuba. There are more important things in life than watching moronic teenagers struggle with schoolwork," he said, as crisp and as curt as the broken potato chip at Yugi's feet.   
  
"Just because you're so smart doesn't mean everyone is," Yugi yelled after him as Kaiba glided out the door, his coat billowing behind him. Yugi then looked to Tristan, who was sitting in his chair, watching Kaiba walk out.  
  
" What was that all about?" he said, leaning back. " Yugi, what did you want to tell me?"   
  
" Well… I kept you here so late because I need to tell you something," Yugi said, wringing his hands.   
  
" O.K., then, go ahead," Tristan said impatiently.  
  
" Um… you see, I was talking to Mrs. Grocher… and… um… she said, um… she said that you should… I mean I should…" Yugi said nervously.   
  
" Oh, wait! Are you my tutor? Sweet! Better then Kaiba or somebody," Tristan said happily.  
  
" You mean you already knew you were getting a tutor?" Yugi said in an exasperated voice.   
  
" Yep. Mrs. Grocher told me about a week ago."  
  
" Oh."   
  
" So, anyway, I should probably tell you why my grades are so bad…"  
  
" Uh, that really doesn't matter, Tristan…"  
  
" No, I must tell you. It's because of Serenity!"   
  
Yugi stopped. " Because… because of Serenity…?"   
  
" Yep. I've been so caught up in making sure Serenity gets what she needs that I haven't had much time for schoolwork!" Tristan said dreamily.  
  
Yugi looked dumbfounded. Then he shook his head.   
  
" Tristan, let's pretend Serenity didn't need your help. You might be able to work better."  
  
" Oh, but she does! Just yesterday I took her out for ice cream. If I hadn't done that, she might have dehydrated!" Tristan declared.   
  
Yugi sighed. " Tristan, let's just start doing some work." Yugi thought about what a teacher would have Tristan do. " O.K., let's start with this."   
  
Yugi walked over to Mrs. Grocher's desk and pulled a green and yellow Laser Surgery pen out of a coffee cup. He put that on Tristan's desk. Then he pulled a few sheets of paper out of his binder and put that on the desk too.  
  
" O.K., Tristan, here's what we're going to do. I want you to write an essay, or a poem, or whatever else, and it can be on anything you want," Yugi said cheerfully.  
  
" Can I write about S…"   
  
" No, you cannot write it about Serenity. Pick something else that interests you," Yugi sighed.   
  
"Oh. All right then," Tristan said, a little disappointed, but he continued anyway.   
  
While Tristan wrote, Yugi walked around the classroom and looked around, stopping at the windowsill. This windowsill was the Graffiti Land of the classroom. Almost everyone had something to say on the windowsill— some examples, carved in or written with a pen, are "The Pharaoh will die bleeding at my hand," " Friendship Rulz!" and " Kaiba bashers shall be sued." Yugi began to think about Kaiba and how he could be so cold and malicious to many, but so warm and affectionate to… well… Mokuba.  
  
Tristan brought him out of his reverie.   
  
" Yugi, I mean, Mr. Moto," he joked, " I finished."   
  
Yugi looked a little surprised. " Already?"  
  
" Yep! And I think you'll find it very good. I put in a lot of detail and remembered what Mrs. Grocher had told us about format. I even did a little revising," Tristan said happily, trying to look very professional. Yugi smiled and took the paper.  
  
He didn't know what he had expected, but he hadn't expected this…  
  
Stuff I see and think about in my bathroom  
  
By Tristan Taylor  
  
I was standing in my bathroom yesterday.   
  
Their was a mirror and a toilet like in a normal bathroom. Because I have a normal bathroom  
  
And then I looked at a can of that sprayey stuff that smells like flowers, and it made me sad and I don't now why.   
  
The toilet paper had a tear in it that looked like Michigan If toothbrushes could breakdance, my toothbrush would not be breakdancing   
  
I would like to dedikait this thingy to Serenity Wheeler, the love of my life   
  
The end  
  
"Um…" was all Yugi managed to say. This was going to take a lot of time.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Come back later to check out the second chapter, where a few more people get dragged into tutor mania, and Mrs. Grocher decides to assign a prehistoric preschool project— Show & Tell. 


	2. New Recruits

MilleniumGirl: Hello there and welcome back to the story! THANK YOU so much reviewers!!!!!!!!!! And readers too but I really don't know what you thought of it, so next time review!  
  
Bakura: *twitching*  
  
MG: You know, we don't have to say it every time.  
  
Bakura: Oh yes we do! *stomps foot* You could get sued!  
  
Yakura: *bored expression and reading a magazine with his feet up* And we wouldn't want that now, would we, hikari?  
  
Bakura: Oh no! So, MilleniumGirl does not own Yu-gi-oh, and isn't claiming to own Yu-gi-oh, and does not own or claim to own the characters.  
  
MG: Heheheheheheheheheh...  
  
Yakura: Damn. Ryou, don't provoke her or she'll kill one of us off in her next fanfic.  
  
Bakura: Great Scott! *hides behind Yakura*  
  
MG: Anyway! Enjoy the chapter ^___^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yami wandered around the downstairs part of the Game Shop, pacing and thinking to himself. He was in one of his moods where he thought nothing except of his past and future— it was a quiet and peaceful time for the spirit of the Puzzle. But it was interrupted rudely when the Pharaoh went vaulting over a large book on the floor. He cursed and checked to make sure his hair was O.K. before picking up the book and reading the cover. It was a teacher's book. Odd...  
  
Suddenly, the small frame of Yugi came darting from a chair in the corner and took the book from Yami.  
  
"Thank you thank you thank you, I've been looking for this everywhere..." he mumbled, traversing across the room back to a corner, completely littered with books and papers.  
  
"Ah, what's all this for?" Yami asked his hikari, who had large bags under his eyes.  
  
"See, I thought I'd read up on how to be a good teacher! I mean, if I want this tutoring thing to be affective, I have to make it work smoothly, you know? And so I went to the library after school, and I got books, and I'm reading them all and filling out a detailed schedule for the next tutoring session!" Yugi concluded with a large smile.  
  
Yami looked slightly amused. "I'm glad to see you're taking this seriously," he said, stepping over a book as he walked towards the stairs.  
  
"Wait," Yugi said suddenly. "Do you think... Do you think you could help me?" he asked his yami, who had paused.  
  
"With the schedule?" he said, crinkling up his nose.  
  
"No, no... with the tutoring," Yugi said shyly. " I would really appreciate it if I could get some more help."  
  
Yami looked surprised. " Is he really that bad? All right then, I don't see why not... I don't have much to do after school anyway."  
  
Yugi relaxed. " Oh, really? Thank you so much! This means a lot to me!" Yugi then got up and gave Yami a hug that would've made other yamis sick.  
  
Soon, they were at school. Joey kept trying to offer Yugi coffee, but Yugi declined, a little embarrassed that he had gone to school looking so shabby. No one else seemed to notice, though; they all wanted to know what Yugi had brought. Brought? What did I bring? Yugi thought to himself. What were we supposed to... OH NO, I FORGOT ABOUT BRING A THING DAY!!!!!  
  
Bring a Thing day was Ms. Grocher's lame attempt to have a Show and Tell, but not quite the same. The students brought a thing and were graded on their presentation. Without the thing, Yugi would lose half his points. That made him think about life points. Which made him remember his deck! He was saved! He grabbed his dueling deck from his backpack and took a seat, ready to start. He gave Tristan a thumbs up.  
  
Tristan thumbed back, and then waited for Ms. Grocher to announce the first person up. She picked Yami solely for the fact that he wasn't paying attention, so he was startled when she called his name at first. Then he got up, opened the door, and brought in his Thing.  
  
Yugi's grandpa was his Thing. Yugi's mouth dropped. How did Yami manage to get his grandpa to come to school? Yami only winked to Yugi, then stood at the front of the room.  
  
"O.K., people, I brought my hikari's grandpa," Yami said in a bored voice. Someone, an easy guess as to whom, shouted, "BOO! GET OUTTA HERE PHARAOH!" and was promptly sent to go sit in the hall. Muttering, Yakura left the room while his hikari clicked his tongue disapprovingly.  
  
"Um... so, why did you decide to bring your... uh, what did you call it again?" Ms. Grocher said quizzically, staring down her spectacles.  
  
"Hikari's grandpa. I brought it because it was cool, and when you ask it a question, watch this..." he said, turning to look at Grandpa. " What should I do?"  
  
"Believe in the Heart of the Cards!" it recited. The class oohed.  
  
Joey raised his hand. "Can you make it say other stuff? "he asked.  
  
"I'll try," Yami said uncertainly. " Hey, Gramps, how's it going?"  
  
"Hi," said Gramps.  
  
The class aahed.  
  
This fascinated Yugi until Ms. Grocher whispered his name and called him to her desk. She asked Yugi in a hushed tone if he could take some of this time to do a little tutoring with Tristan. Yugi nodded vigorously, but then remembered that he needed Yami's help, and Yami was currently showing the class how his grandpa would say "Heart of the Cards!" if you poked him in the back. He pulled Tristan aside and asked him to meet him in the hall. Then he interrupted Yami for a moment to ask if he could cut it short and come too.  
  
"Oh, sure thing. Sorry, I have to go," he said to the class. They all sounded disappointed. "Don't worry, maybe Gramps can come back some other time."  
  
Yugi, Yami, and Tristan left the room, pausing momentarily to witness the first part of Duke's presentation of his dice collection. They had begun to shut the door when another body slipped out into the hall with them. It was Bakura, who looked horribly desperate to get out of the classroom.  
  
"Please please let me stay with you," he said miserably. "Duke only just started his dice collection speech, and it's already boring— he has 1,569 of them, knows where each of them came from, AND NAMED HIS FAVORITES!!!! IMAGINE THAT!! JOE AND SAL THE DICE!!!"  
  
Yakura got up from the wall he had been sent to and took a moment to comfort his hikari, who was in fits about Duke's obsession with dice. The others watched in sheer terror of what dice could do to a man's spirits before they turned to Tristan, who was reading a little note that had come out of his pocket.  
  
"What's that?" Yami said, peering at the paper scrap. Tristan clutched it to his chest, sighing deeply, and said, " My presentation is based off this... It's one of my most prized possessions. Serenity gave it to me."  
  
Bakura took it gingerly from Tristan and began to read. His expression of interest fell off his face and was replaced by disgust. He flung it over his shoulder with a groan, and his yami quickly snatched it up out of the air, reading with the same look on his face as Bakura.  
  
"It's a damned GROCERY LIST, you moron," Yakura said angrily, shaking Tristan by his shoulders.  
  
"But... but Serenity wrote it! That makes it special!" Tristan protested.  
  
The white haired yami and hikari began to mumble to themselves; Yami looked like he was about to start laughing, and Yugi was doing his best to respect Tristan's feelings.  
  
"Never mind that, let's start the tutoring," Yugi said, clapping his hands together.  
  
"Let's make this easy and fast. Tristan, what's one plus two oh look, he couldn't answer it, he's two slow for his own good what a hopeless case, O.K. let's go hikari," Yakura said, starting to drag Bakura off down the hallway.  
  
"No no no!" Bakura protested, detaching himself. " We have to do it right!"  
  
Yugi nodded. "Let's start with this. Tristan, what do you think you're having the most trouble with?"  
  
"Being apart form Serenity for so long."  
  
Anime falls all around. When Yakura managed to get himself up using the doorknob, he peeked inside the classroom, where Joey could be seen explaining how he had brought his presentation piece but he had eaten it. Like a dog eats homework.  
  
Kaiba, as you could imagine, thought this was very funny.  
  
Tea had brought a magazine with a picture of New York on the cover, and lectured the class for 15 minutes how you can achieve your dreams if you believe and have faith and how your friends will always be there for you.  
  
Yugi slipped his dueling deck inside the classroom so Duke could make his presentation for him, but the cards lay forgotten when Duke got into a heated discussion with another kid about what plastics dice are made form.  
  
Bakura made Joey present his England flag to the class, who thought it was pretty cool, but kept calling it Scottish and had to have Bakura's individual fingers pried off their necks by Yakura.  
  
Yakura came in for a split second to say that if anyone asked to see it, he would send them to the Shadow Realm, but he did have his presentation somewhere. He got sent back out to the hall again for inappropriate behavior.  
  
Tristan started to read the grocery list to the class but Yugi saved him the embarrassment by pulling him back out into the hall after a few deeply moving syllables of "Milk" and " Cheese."  
  
Kaiba looked at the class. Then he told them that what they had just seen was a patented Kaiba Glare that he could sue $2 million dollars for if anyone used it. The class clapped.  
  
Back in the hallway, Bakura was sitting on his yami, afraid he would run off and not come back for school until he had been tracked down and tranquilized. Yami was reading a book. Yugi was trying to explain to Tristan that the chemicals in lab class weren't edible.  
  
Yugi had officially assigned some new members to the tutoring crew, but his problems sure weren't getting solved any faster. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
MG: O.k O.k. O.k. you guys are going to love this!  
  
Yakura: Hit me. *glare*  
  
MG: *ignores Yakura* I was just thinking that maybe I can get some suggestions from the reviewers! Perhaps who they want to see help tutor Tristan next, or even... *eyes widen* Or even help tutor Tristan themselves! Yes that's it! Write in your review whether or not you want to be included in this fanfic as a Tristan Taylor Tutor! And if you don't suggestions are always welcome ^^ See ya next chapter! . 


	3. Welcome, Nikki!

MilleniumGirl: I've decided to continue this one after all... I was going to stop writing because not a soul had reviewed, but SOMEONE did, so she is the star of this chappie! Thank you Nicole! And, I guess I have to do the disclaimer too... So, yeah, I don't own Yu-gi-oh, because if I did I wouldn't be wasting my time writing this when I could be getting the dubs translated faster Anyway, continuing!  
  
..................................................................................  
  
Last time on To Tutor, or Not to Tutor?:  
  
"What's that?" Yami said, peering at the paper scrap. Tristan clutched it to his chest, sighing deeply, and said, " My presentation is based off this... It's one of my most prized possessions. Serenity gave it to me."

...............

Yugi nodded. "Let's start with this. Tristan, what do you think you're having the most trouble with?"  
  
"Being apart from Serenity for so long."

...............

Yugi had officially assigned some new members to the tutoring crew, but his problems sure weren't getting solved any faster.

...............................................................................  
  
Another day, another new adventure...  
  
Yugi Moto sighed as he walked into class the next day. Quite frankly, he was tired of Tristan. Tristan was too obsessed with taking care of Serenity for his own good... it was really too bad. Tristan would have achieved academic goals beyond his wildest imagination... wait. What was he thinking? TRISTAN? ACADEMIC GOALS? Ugh, he must be more tired then he thought...  
  
However, the new day harbored some surprises. Mrs. Grocher had been standing at the front of the classroom for several minutes before the students took notice of her.  
  
"Class," she said hoarsely and then cleared her throat. "We have a new student today."  
  
"Yay, I won't be the newbie anymore!" a kid in the back of the class shouted.  
  
"Erm... continuing," Mrs. Grocher said. "I want you to show our new transfer student just how wonderful the student body at Domino High really is. Show her we are a united class, strong in our actions, dignified, intelligent..."

Yugi looked at Tristan.

"... responsible, and respectful. We always take others into consideration while we..."

Duke passed a picture of the new student falling asleep in the hall. Joey snickered.

"... a wonderful society of teenage children..."

Kaiba started reading a book.

"...family, privileged and persevering..."

Only Bakura was paying attention. (A/N/: That's Ryou; Yami B is Yakura in this story)

"...striving toward a common goal as Domino High School expects! Let's welcome the new student!"  
  
The class looked up. The girl came in and gingerly made her way to the front of the room. Mrs. Grocher was smiling and revealing all her large yellow teeth at once.  
  
"Thank you, dear, now tell the class your name!"  
  
"Nikki," she said, gaining her confidence again. "I'm a transfer– you probably already know that."  
  
Mrs. Grocher, still smiling, said, "Why don't you put your name on the board, Nikki?"  
  
The students chose this moment, even after the teacher's speech, to be uncooperative. Show Nikki their true selves.  
  
Yakura, whose feet were up on his desk, suddenly shouted out, "That's stupid. Don't do it, Nikki, we all heard your name twice already."  
  
"Maybe _some of us_ weren't paying attention," Mrs. Grocher said, adjusting her glasses.  
  
"Maybe some of us think it's cliché, but you're right, Mrs. Grocher, some of us may still be asleep and not have heard her name," Kaiba said icily, lowering his book slightly.  
  
"Asleep?" Mrs. Grocher peered at Kaiba through her glasses.  
  
"Yes, asleep, as in the state of the subconscious mind," Kaiba said with a smirk.  
  
"Yes yes Mr. Kaiba, I know what asleep means, so don't be cheeky!" she snapped. "You get detention for that!"  
  
The entire class knew not to mess with Kaiba, but apparently Mrs. Grocher had missed out on that lesson. Nikki's eyes moved from face to face, and she slowly slid into a desk somewhat close to the shrewd teen with the icy eyes and the brown hair.  
  
Kaiba put his book down and looked Mrs. Grocher squarely in the eye. "Detention?" he said cooly.  
  
"Yes..." Mrs. Grocher faltered, for she was being stared down. "Erm, actually, forget that, why don't you and some others show Nikki around... and Tristan, go with Yugi for some practice."  
  
Kaiba smiled and slid the book into his desk. A chance to get out of class was always welcome, and he had gotten out of the detention he had been assigned for 5 seconds. He walked out the door, and several others followed his example. Mrs. Grocher kept all the other kids, but Bakura, his yami, Duke, Joey, Tea, and Yami had slipped out to "show Nikki around." She followed too, of course, and Yugi and Tristan caught up with the group behind Kaiba.  
  
"We're going to the library," Tea said cheerfully. "We can teach Tristan in there... Oh how rude of us, we didn't introduce ourselves to Nikki yet!"  
  
"Wait until we get in the library," Kaiba said in a low voice, and they heeded him. Yugi shut the door behind them, and they took a seat at a table. Yugi had begun to politely introduce himself when Tea literally stepped over him to get to Nikki first.  
  
"HI! My name is Tea Gardner, I am so happy you came to Domino; it's a great place, you'll _love_ it! We could be very very very best friends! And, you can join a friendship circle! Look, Joey and Tristan and Yugi are already in it, Duke is sorta kinda, Kaiba wouldn't be if you paid him..."  
  
"Hell no..." Kaiba muttered.  
  
"... Ryou Bakura, Yami, Yami Bakura, yeah, they're all nice. So what'dya wanna be when you grow up? I'm going to be a dancer!!!!" she said, stopping for breath.  
  
Nikki leaned back a little. "A teacher, probably. I think that would be a cool job! Well, you have to know a lot, and you have to handle people well, too, but..."  
  
The rest of the group would have been delighted to hear what she had to say, but Tea wasn't done yet.  
  
"...In New York, obviously, that's where the best of the best are, don't you think? Have you ever been to New York, I bet it's great, I was working at Burger World for a while so I could raise money for a trip there but I haven't been back there for a long time!" Tea laughed. "So, what were you saying?"  
  
Nikki said, "Um, nothing important," in a voice to let Tea know she was being a little too friendly. Tea didn't take the hint, but Yugi interrupted her before Tea recapped any of her life's dreams again. Slowly but surely, they made their way around, and Nikki got to know them. She really found Kaiba interesting. He was calm and quiet, which she preferred right now, especially after having met Tea. Yami Bakura was a very colorful character, and Nikki made a mental note not to talk to him too much... This thought was strengthened when a teacher passing by the library door disappeared and Ryou Bakura hit Yakura on the shoulder and seethed "Bring her back! What have I told you about doing that in school?"  
  
Then, Tea suddenly remembered about tutoring Tristan.  
  
"Oh yeah, besides having that special friendship bond I was telling you about, we're all tutoring Tristan, so that's kinda like a friendship bond, too!"  
  
"Wait... what?" Kaiba said.  
  
"So Nikki, if you want to help us..."  
  
Kaiba looked at Tea. "Me? FRIENDSHIP BOND?"  
  
Yakura sighed. "Yay, me too, apparently. Oh well, at least it'll be funny watching the foolish monkey struggle." His hikari hit him again.  
  
Kaiba looked horrified. "Friendship bond? YOU? ME?"  
  
Nikki thought a "friendship bond" was a little overdoing it on the naming of a group of people helping a guy with his homework, but then again, this was Tea's name...  
  
"Well... that would be..." Nikki started, but suddenly she realized the offer. "Wait, of course I'll help!" She smiled. Duh! She was going to be getting extra practice helping out and working with students, like a teacher! In the first few hours of going to a new school, she had been nicely acquainted with several kids, and become involved in an extra-curricular activity! If you could call it that... No, wait, it was more of a "friendship bond..." Nikki laughed to herself.  
  
"All right!" Duke said happily. "Well, she's probably better then this at all of us except Yugi, so... got any ideas, Nikki?"  
  
"Hmmm... First, Tristan, what are you struggling most with?"  
  
"Uhhh, I dunno."  
  
"Math? Science?" she said calmly.  
  
"Everything, I guess," he sighed. "See, I can't focus very well. My mind is somewhere else."  
  
"What is this "mind" you speak of?" Kaiba said in a bored voice. Yakura laughed, but was scowled at by his hikari.  
  
Nikki smiled slightly and then said to Tristan, "Let's have a little contest thing. I just want to see how you compare to others."  
  
"Sure, I love games," Tristan said, taking things out of his jacket and putting them on the table. "I just need to find my lucky..." he faltered off.  
  
"Lucky penny?" Yugi suggested.  
  
"Aw, nuts, my lucky ceramic wad is gone," Tristan said angrily. "I must have left it in my other jacket."  
  
"Ceramic... wad?" Nikki said curiously.  
  
"Yeah!" Tristan said. "Me and that ceramic wad I found, we're best when we work together."  
  
"Yes, inseparable and alike, Tristan and his lucky friend. The ceramic wad being the smarter of the two, of course," Kaiba said with a small smile. Yakura laughed appreciatively again, and Joey broke out laughing, too.  
  
"Good one, K..." he started to say, but then realized whom he was laughing with. He grumbled to himself and said, "Alrighty, Nikki, let's start this thing, and Tristan, you don' need dat ceramic thingy. You just use your brain power!"  
  
Tristan nodded. "Brain power!"  
  
Kaiba imagined small sparks flying out of his head.  
  
.........................................................

Next time on To Tutor or Not to Tutor: Let the championships begin! Can Nikki and the gang help Tristan before... (drumroll) The BIG TEST????

.........................................................  
  
MG: I'm a thinkin' this one's got one more chapter left in it.  
  
Mokuba: Noooo! It can't die!  
  
MG: Aw, but don't you want to see what happens to Ryou and Bakura in Death's Roses?  
  
Mokuba: Heheheh, yeah, I do...  
  
MG: Well, thanks again to Nicole (Nikki), who will be in the next chapter, along with anyone else who reviews and says they want to be in the story!


	4. The Test!

MilleniumGirl: Hey, I'm finally back! And this time I'm adding a few more people to the story 'cause I feel like it! This is the last chapter (thanks to everyone who's reviewed). And, yeah, I don't own Yu-gi-oh (or Spongebob, or that song called South Side, or McDonalds, or Taboo, or Jeopardy). Anyhoo! ONWARD!

........................................  
  
Last time on To Tutor, or Not to Tutor?:  
  
"Thank you, dear, now tell the class your name!"  
  
"Nikki," she said, gaining her confidence again. "I'm a transfer– you probably already know that."

......

Nikki smiled slightly and then said to Tristan, "Let's have a little contest thing. I just want to see how you compare to others."

.....

"Alrighty, Nikki, let's start this thing, and Tristan, you don' need dat ceramic thingy. You just use your brain power!"

......................................  
  
Nikki was at her house the Sunday before the big test tomorrow. It was practically everything they had learned 3rd semester, and she really had to study to get caught up with the rest of the class. She was flipping through text books when she had a great idea.  
  
"I should invite a friend to study with!" she exclaimed and dug in her purse for her cellphone. Then, she paused. Who should she call? Yugi? Ryou?  
  
Then she got a _really_ good idea. Smiling, she looked up a ton of people's phone numbers in the Domino High Directory. She didn't even know half the people, but the more, the merrier! And besides, she could do that contest she wanted to with Tristan now instead of tomorrow morning! The first name she found was Ryou Bakura's. She dialed and waited.  
  
"Hello, welcome to the Defunct Old People hotline. Our special today is dead cats. This is Senile Sam speaking, and I'd like to eat you," the voice on the other line said. Nikki was about to hang up when she heard Ryou's voice in the background.  
  
"YAMI BAKURA, STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!! GIVE ME THE PHONE, NOW!"  
  
"But, hikari..."  
  
"DON'T YOU "But hikari" ME!!!! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT MAKING UP NAMES! THAT COULD BE AN IMPORTANT CALL!"  
  
Nikki heard muffling on the other line. She sighed and held the phone a little away from her ear.  
  
"Hello?" Ryou said after a long while.  
  
"Oh, hi, this is Nikki," she said, relieved that "Senile Sam" hadn't gotten control of the phone again.  
  
"Oh, good to hear from you! Sorry about Bakura..." he said brightly.  
  
"Don't worry. Anyway, I wanted to call and see if you wanted to come over to my house and have a little study party. I'm going to invite Tristan, too, so..."  
  
"Can I come?" Bakura said, on one of the other phone lines in their house.  
  
"BAKURA!" Ryou yelled, but Nikki hesitantly said it was O.K. if he came too.  
  
"Are you sure? If you have any food, he'll it all..." Ryou said at a dangerous risk to his health.  
  
"Not before Joey does, you stupid hikari. We'll be over soon, Nikki," Bakura said after he heard her address, and the two hung up.  
  
Then she proceeded to call Joey.  
  
"HELLO?" Somebody screamed into the phone.  
  
"This is Nikki, can I please talk to Joey?" Nikki said politely.  
  
"WHAT?" the voice screamed.  
  
"THIS IS NIKKI," Nikki yelled. There were loud noises coming from the other line. "CAN I TALK TO JOEY?"  
  
"JOEY? AS IN MY BIG BROTHER JOEY?" the voice yelled.  
  
"YEAH," Nikki yelled back.  
  
"OH, I'M HIS LITTLE SISTER SERENITY, NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU, NIKKI!"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"NEVER MIND," Serenity yelled. Nikki heard Serenity put the phone down on something. It let out a loud cling and Nikki held the phone away from her ear again as the phone fell on the floor. A pot fell on top of it. Then, she heard the radio playing extremely loudly, only outmatched by the loud choruses of "WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA?!?!?! SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!!" from the TV. Nikki made a smart guess that Joey and his little sister lived by themselves. (A/N: I know Serenity really doesn't live with Joey, but she does in this fanfic.)  
  
Nikki waited patiently while Serenity yelled for Joey. Then she heard scuffling as Joey picked the phone up off the floor. He said something, but all Nikki heard was a jumble of "AND FALL ON THE DECK AND FLOP LIKE A FISH!" And "BABY YOU'RE MY SOUTH SIDE! BABY WE CAN GO HIGH!"  
  
"WHAT?" she yelled. She heard some more scuffling and yelling, and then she heard Joey at last.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi, Joey, this is Nikki."  
  
"Hey, sorry 'bout all dat noise in dere. What'chya call for?"  
  
"I wanted to see if you'd like to come over to my house and study..."  
  
"Yeah, 'course I would! I know where your place is, I passed by it yesterday, so see ya there!" he said, not letting her finish her sentence, and hung up.  
  
Nikki's ears started to ring because of the absence of noise. She shook her head and dialed Tea's number. Why, she wasn't sure, but it might've been out of politeness.  
  
Tea answered, and when Nikki gave her the invitation, she went on for 15 minutes about social events and friendship, and Nikki vaguely caught something about rabbits. But Tea said she could come in the end, and Nikki went on to Kaiba.  
  
"Kaiba."  
  
"Hey, this is Nikki," she said, surprised and the contrast between Tea's bubbly greeting and his gruff one.  
  
"..."  
  
"Um, yeah, I was just wondering if you wanted to come over to my house. To study," she added quickly.  
  
"..."  
  
She waited.  
  
"Yeah, I guess I could do that," he said, and hung up. His lack of phone time was made up by Tea's excessive one.  
  
Nikki called Tristan next.  
  
"Hi?" he said as he answered.  
  
"Hey, Tristan..." Nikki said, but Tristan cut her off.  
  
"How do you know my name? Are you a telemarketer?"  
  
"No, it's Nikki. From school. I was wondering if you wanted to come to my house, and we could help you study."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Study for that big test tomorrow? We can play that game I brought up on Friday in the library," she said calmly.  
  
"Oh! Um, where's your house?"  
  
"On 39th."  
  
"39th what?"  
  
"39th street."  
  
"I don't do street names. What big place are you next to?"  
  
"A... big place?"  
  
"Yeah, like a McDonalds, or something."  
  
"Oh... I guess it's kinda close to GoldenMart. It's a white house."  
  
"O.K, great! I'll be right over."  
  
And then Yugi.  
  
"Kame Game Shop, how can I help you?" a voice said.  
  
"Um... sorry, I must have the wrong number..." she said, looking for the directory to check.  
  
Then she heard Yugi.  
  
"Grandpa? Who is it?"  
  
"Oh!" Nikki said. "I didn't know Yugi lived here!"  
  
"Believe in the Heart of the Cards!" Grandpa said, then handed the phone to Yugi. Nikki was reminded of "Senile Sam" for a moment.  
  
"Hello?" Yugi said.  
  
"Hey, it's Nikki! I had no idea you lived at the Game Shop!"  
  
"Yeah, it's pretty cool! Anyway, what did you need?"  
  
"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to come over to my house..." Nikki explained why, and when Yugi agreed and said he'd bring Yami, she gave him the address.  
  
To spare you the boredom of reading through several other calls that all ended up something like this:

Nikki: You'll come? Great! It's on 39th!

Person: Huh?

Nikki: (sweatdrop) Next to GoldenMart. White house.

Person: Oh, thanks!

We'll just say...  
  
HALF HOUR LATER  
  
Nikki was busy answering the door for the next few minutes. She let her friends in with a wave, and they started messing around while she introduced herself to 6 other people.  
  
"Hi!" Azuka, Kodama, Maki, and Kibu all said cheerfully. They were glad they had known where GoldenMart was. No one really had ever suspected there was a 39th street.  
  
"Hi, nice to meet you," Nikki said, and the other people came to greet them. Yugi was immediately pulled into a discussion with Liz (also known as Authoress formally known as Liz) about how to get Grandpas to transmit radio signals.  
  
"Really? What if their hair doesn't contain metal traces?" Liz said after saying hi to Nikki.  
  
"There's this hair gel Yami has that has the metal right in there. You just give some to a Grandpa and it works right away."  
  
"Cool."  
  
Erich (animefreak2000) showed up a few minutes after. He said hi to Nikki and started talking with Azuka until Nikki had everyone sit down. Tristan got to sit in what he had dubbed the "special chair."  
  
"Joey," Erich whispered. "Where's Serenity?"  
  
"At home, I hope," Joey said. "She said dat she didn't wanna crash the study party."  
  
"Oh, is that what we're doing?"  
  
Yugi silenced everyone. Nikki thanked him, but Tea stood up and started talking about the common bond they had until Kaiba "accidentally" pushed the "special chair" over into Tea. Everyone started talking again until Liz said she'd pour radioactive hair gel on them if they didn't shut up.  
  
Then Nikki showed them her game. She had made her own version of Jeopardy, which was applauded. After she had Kaiba hook up a laptop to a projector so the categories could show up on the wall, she started with the first question.  
  
"Now, all of these are things we've been learning in school, just for the record. O.K., first question. Wha... WHY DOES THAT DOORBELL KEEP RINGING?"  
  
Everyone raised their hand and started mumbling answers. Only after Joey shouted, "BECAUSE IT DOES!" did they figure out that that wasn't a question. Nikki marched to the door and...  
  
"Hi!" MilleniumGirl said. "This sounded like so much fun, that I thought I'd come!"  
  
"But...aren't you writing this?"  
  
"Shhhh!" I... I mean, she... said, and went over and said hi to everyone. Then she sat between Erich and Kaiba.  
  
"Erm... anyway," Nikki said. "The category is Social Studies. For 100 points: What is the capital of Iran?"  
  
Kaiba raised his hand, followed by MG (A/N: Hahahaha), Tea, Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Azuka, Liz...  
  
Nikki waited a few seconds to see if Tristan knew. Then she looked up.  
  
"Um... who raised their hand first?"  
  
"Kaiba did!" MG said. (A/N: I should know. Hahahahaha...)  
  
Nikki sighed. "I believe you, but... this is too hard with so many people. Let's make teams."  
  
"Excellent idea! I'm captain of my team, and I pick Yami!" Tea said.  
  
"Um, I wasn't going to do it like that, but..."  
  
10 MINUTES LATER "Alright then. Team One... excuse me, Team Mexi-Fries, is Joey, Tristan, Duke, Bakura, and Kaiba."  
  
"Great..." Kaiba mumbled. "I couldn't be on any other team..."  
  
"Team Friendship is Tea, Yugi, Yami, and Ryou. Team Fanfiction is Liz, Azuka and her other selves, Erich, and MG," Nikki said. "I've provided you all with those little buzzers I took out of Taboo boxes. Let's start over again."  
  
"How come Team Mexi-fries has one more person?" Erich said.  
  
"Because I make up for the lack of Tristan," Kaiba said with no expression.  
  
A few people appreciated his humor, a few others realized that he wasn't joking, and the rest snapped at him for being mean.  
  
"Main export of Kuwait," Nikki mumbled after they had been quieted for the fifth time by Yugi.  
  
Team Fanfiction's buzzer sounded first.  
  
"Oil," MG said (A/N: Hahaha), and the rest of the team gave her a high five after Nikki announced her correct.  
  
The game continued on for an hour. They were at the final question, a Daily Double for Team Mexi-Fries, who were in the lead thanks to Kaiba. Team Friendship was bringing up the rear.  
  
"And here's the final question. What is a permutation? Write it down, please. You have 30 seconds," Nikki said.  
  
They let Tristan do the Jeopardy theme music. Then, Nikki told them time was up.  
  
"Let's see your answers," she said, walking to Team Mexi-Fries. "They have written: A thorough change in character or condition, the act or process of changing the order of a set of objects, or an ordered arrangement of a set of objects. Noun. Also: permutational. And that is correct!" Team Mexi- Fries errupted into hoots and shouting. Nikki leaned over to Kaiba and whispered, "You wrote all that, right?" He nodded.  
  
"Well, anyway, let's see what Team Friendship has! They put: The process of getting your hair permed. No, sorry," Nikki said, trying to hold back laughter. "And Team Fanfiction put: A math thing that has something to do with 4P3, and that means 4x3x2, and it's really really easy but boring to learn about. Um... well... that's kind of right... Even if I give it to you, you won't win, sorry. The winner is TEAM MEXI-FRIES!!!"  
  
Joey, Tristan, Bakura, and Duke exploded into cheering. Kaiba rolled his eyes and made his way to the door before MG ran up and hugged him.  
  
"Yay Team Mexi-Fries! Woohoo!" Nikki said, clapping. Then she turned to Tristan. "Did you learn anything? I hope you did, because you'll do really well on the test tomorrow!"  
  
He snapped his fingers. "Yeah, I did figure something out!"  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"The doorbell rang because MG pressed the button outside!" he said with a large grin.  
  
Everyone stared at him. Maybe he did need that ceramic wad after all.

..........  
  
The next day was the test. Nikki zipped through it with ease; she recognized everything she needed to know from studying last night. She hoped that Tristan had stopped working out the doorbell problem and focusing more on what the Mexi-Fries had learned last night.  
  
Yugi was the same way. He had been assigned to tutor Tristan in the first place, and he hoped he had done an acceptable job. He kept glancing at Tristan from the other side of the room, hoping he was paying attention to the test...  
  
Kaiba had finished 30 minutes early and was reading. He watched Yugi turn his head several times to watch Tristan, who was poking holes in his eraser. He laughed to himself. Tristan was going to fail...  
  
Mrs. Grocher waited for everyone to finish, then collected the student's tests. They read silently, switched classes for two periods, then came back to their homeroom.  
  
It was the moment of truth. Yugi hardly noticed the 96 on his paper when he got it back. He was waiting for Tristan's. Kaiba stuck a 102 percent inside his desk and watched the look of apprehension on Yugi's face. Nikki smiled at her perfect grade, then joined the group of friend's around Tristan's desk. Mrs. Grocher handed back his paper.  
  
Tristan took the paper. He looked at it for a second, then whooped.  
  
"WOOOYAH! I got a better grade then I've ever gotten before!" he said happily.  
  
"Really? What?" Yugi said, leaning over Tristan's paper.  
  
"NEGATIVE 3 PERCENT?!?!?!?!"  
  
"Yep! Isn't it great? I usually get negative 10!"  
  
"How can you get a negative...?" Kaiba said, confused.  
  
"Really? Better then before?" Nikki said with a fake smile. But then she realized something! He had improved; that was the whole point! Who cares if he failed miserably!  
  
"I still don't get it..." Kaiba said, taking his paper. He brushed around the words –3% until something came off. The negative sign did!  
  
"Knew it," Kaiba said, then walked away. They watched him leave in silence.  
  
"Kaiba just improved my grade by 6 percent," Tristan said.  
  
"Tristan? Did you just say what I think you said?" Nikki said looking wide- eyed at Tristan.  
  
"He just did math! Smart people math!" Yami said, awestruck.  
  
"I did?" Tristan said. They all congratulated him on his grade and told him they had fun working with him. Yugi was glad to see his mind was in the right place. Joey was happy Tristan didn't get a better grade then he did. Nikki was glad she could help. Tea was ecstatic about the fun they had had as a friendship circle. Bakura thought Tristan was a loser, and Ryou was happy that Tristan could ignore his yami so well. They all left the room chatting happily, but Tristan remained alone at his desk.  
  
"I just guessed on the 6 percent thing," he said to himself, shrugged, and walked out the door singing, "Doorbell rings 'cause you press it, yeah yeah yeah, the doorbell rings 'cause you pre-ess that button..."  
  
...................................................................  
  
MG: The end!! Yay! It was fun; thanks again to all my reviewers!!! I know this was a long chapter, but it was worth it!  
  
Nosy Yu-gi-oh fanfic inspector: I see this story had significant Tea and Tristan bashing. I disapprove of the bashing of any character. I will be removing this story from the archive, and you are under arrest for unlawful conduct...  
  
MG: YOU CAN'T TAKE ME ALIVE!!! (throws sporks at Nosy Inspector)  
  
Nosy Inspector: YOU ARE ALSO ON A SUGAR HIGH! UNLAWFUL! UNLAWFUL!  
  
MG: PLEASE REVIEW MY STORY!  
  
Nosy Inspector: I WILL ARREST YOU ALL IF YOU DO!! UNLAWFUL! UNLAWFUL! (trips on paper and gets electrocuted by projector and laptop)  
  
MG: (whistling Tristan's Doorbell Song)


End file.
